Strive acquires Bitcoin advisory firm True North

On September 16, 2025, Strive Asset Management, a firm co-founded by outspoken entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, announced it had acquired True North, a Bitcoin-focused media and corporate advisory firm. The move signals a deepening alignment between Strive’s brand of “post-ESG” capitalism and the monetary principles that underpin Bitcoin: transparency, sovereignty, and resistance to centralized control.

To understand the direction this is heading, it helps to look at the drivers behind it.

Strive was launched in 2022 by Ramaswamy, a biotech executive turned political figure, alongside Anson Frericks, formerly of Anheuser-Busch. The firm's pitch from the start was clear: challenge the influence of large asset managers like BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street by rejecting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) mandates in favor of so-called “excellence capitalism.” Strive’s message was aimed directly at what it saw as a top-down imposition of political agendas onto the financial system — a system that should, in its view, refocus on shareholder value and long-term economic resilience.

Behind Strive’s latest acquisition, though, is not Ramaswamy — who stepped away from the company during his 2024 presidential bid — but Anson Frericks, who now serves as the firm’s president. Frericks has become increasingly vocal about the role Bitcoin can play as a balance against centralizing financial power. With this acquisition, he’s moving from rhetoric to strategy.

True North is led by Trey Sellers, a former BlackRock vice president who helped launch the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), one of the first spot Bitcoin ETFs approved in the U.S. Sellers left BlackRock earlier in 2025, disillusioned with the internal direction and looking for something more rooted. True North quickly carved out a niche — offering both Bitcoin-native treasury solutions to corporations and high-integrity media content aimed at educating executives on Bitcoin’s real-world applications.

According to the announcement, True North will continue to operate independently but under the Strive umbrella. The stated goal is to “broaden corporate Bitcoin adoption” through a dual strategy: providing education and offering practical advisory services for companies looking to hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets — a move still rare, but growing.

Frericks made the connection clear: just as Strive positioned itself as a financial firm immune to the cultural sway of ESG pressures, Bitcoin represents a monetary system immune to the manipulation of central banks and policymakers. He sees both as tools of self-defense in a landscape where economic and cultural pressures are increasingly entwined.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Strive try to fuse ideology with financial products. Earlier in its life, the firm gained headlines for pushing companies like Swarovski to refocus on profit over progressive campaigns — using shareholder influence to steer business in a more “apolitical” direction. Whether you agree with the tactic or not, the underlying playbook is consistent: identify where centralized influence has warped incentives, and then offer an alternative path.

In that sense, Bitcoin isn’t just an asset to Strive — it’s a strategic pillar. A way to build something parallel to the old system, not just criticize it.

There’s a wider story emerging here. As companies look for resilience in uncertain times — whether from inflation, policy instability, or politicized financial institutions — Bitcoin is becoming more than a speculative bet. It's becoming an operational hedge. That’s what this acquisition really signals.

For Strive, it’s a bet on where things are heading: toward a world where firms need more than slogans — they need tools that preserve autonomy. In True North, they’ve found a partner who shares that conviction.

And in Bitcoin, they’re not just investing in an asset. They’re aligning with a principle.